Blog

blog,paged,paged-7,cabin-core-1.0.2,everest-forms-no-js,select-child-theme-ver-1.0.0,select-theme-ver-3.3,ajax_fade,page_not_loaded,,vertical_menu_enabled, vertical_menu_width_290,smooth_scroll,side_menu_slide_from_right,wpb-js-composer js-comp-ver-6.4.1,vc_responsive

Laura Giles, LCSW

How to Deal With Stupid, Ugly, Hateful People

Posted on May 31, 2020

in relationship

by Laura

0 Comments

Are you surrounded by stupid, ugly, hateful people? Do you need some tips on how to deal with them. Keep reading. This article is for you! I hate to break it to you, but if you read this headline and thought, “Yes! I need those tips!” your number one problem is your thinking. If you are thinking that everyone else is the problem, and you’re labeling them things like stupid, ugly, and hateful, you’re definitely making your life a lot harder than it needs to be. Why? First, because you’re blaming. Blaming makes it someone else’s fault and someone else’s problem to fix. This makes YOU powerless. That’s not a great place to be. If I had a choice of whether to take responsibility for an issue and know that it will...

Ten Pick-Me-Ups When You Don’t Have Time to Be Cranky

Posted on May 31, 2020

in coping, problem solving

by Laura

0 Comments

All emotions are normal. We all feel angry, happy, sad, worried, frustrated, cranky, and everything in between. But sometimes we don’t have the luxury of feeling what we are feeling. We just have to snap out of it so that we can focus and be effective. Here are ten pick me ups for when you don’t have time to be cranky. Get Outside Something about changing your environment can help change your mood. Going outside in the sunshine and fresh air is even better. Make it mindful. Tell yourself you’re going outside to breathe in a new attitude, then chill. Take a few minutes to let yourself be somewhere else. Enjoy it. When you go back to where you were, take the freshness with you. Smile Emotions are tied to physical states. Your brain...

How to Meet Your Emotional Needs

Posted on May 31, 2020

in emotions

by Laura

0 Comments

Just about everything our soul needs can fit into these categories: safety, connection, novelty, significance, growth, and contribution. When our top two emotional needs are met, we tend to be pretty happy. When all of our needs are met, we are living our passion. Sounds great, right? But do you ever wonder how to meet your emotional needs? Most of us look outside of ourselves for this. We either try to find a person who fills us up or find it in our work. When those things are good, we’re good. This works for a lot of people a lot of the time. The problem is that it puts control of our happiness in the hands of someone else. There is actually a way to meet your emotional needs that puts you in...

How To Talk to People

Posted on May 31, 2020

in relationship

by Laura

0 Comments

There are a lot of people who don’t know how to talk to other people. It’s true. Sometimes it’s due to anxiety. Maybe it’s about shyness. It could be that they were bullied in school. Sometimes it is the fear that they will be boring. Or maybe they just didn’t learn how. There are all kinds of reasons why people have a hard time speaking to others. If this is you, take heart. Like most things, all it requires is a little skill. With practice you will soon realize that it’s something anyone can learn to do. Here are some verbal and nonverbal tips to make it easier. Invitation An invitation is an offer for the other person to speak. It is generally a question like, “How are you?” or “Is this seat taken?”...

Three Keys to Wholeness: Love, Service, and Wisdom

Posted on May 31, 2020

in problem solving

by Laura

0 Comments

People have been searching for wholeness for a long time. In recent years the trends for finding it have been through rebellion, escaping through drugs and alcohol, pursuing success (buying things and gaining titles), and living your passion. The key has never been, and never will be, somewhere out there. It’s always inside. You don’t need a guru to find it. You don’t need years of practice to obtain it. I will give you the three keys to wholeness right now. They are love, service, and wisdom. Love Unfortunately, we have a lot of ideas about what love is that have nothing to do with love. We confuse it with obsession, possession, insecurity, jealousy and other things that aren’t particularly lovely then blame love when it hurts. Love is none of those things....

Eight Tips to Boost Your Courage

Posted on May 31, 2020

in coping

by Laura

0 Comments

We all need courage. Courage is what takes us from where we are to heights unknown… or maybe just the next step. If you find you are lacking in courage, here are eight tips to boost your courage. Adopting just one strategy will create some change. Try incorporating more than one and see how your life expands. Acknowledge Your Courage Courage means feeling the fear and acting anyway. You are already more courageous than you know. Think of all the things you’ve done just in the past month that you’ve done that you did despite fear. It’s like the lion on the wizard of Oz. Once someone acknowledged his courage, he began to see it for himself. So see it in yourself. Pat yourself on the back. Once you know you have it,...

Challenge the “Find Your Passion” Nonsense

Posted on May 31, 2020

in problem solving

by Laura

0 Comments

If you are like me, you get a solicitation for a “Find Your Passion” workshop at least once a week. It’s a hoax to make you think that you’re missing out on something if you aren’t skipping to work and coming home with a pile of cash every day. These types of myths are responsible for so much misery. They feed people two lies: 1) Everyone can make lots of money doing what they love and 2) Anyone can be happy if they just figure out what they are here to do. To that I say it’s time to challenge the “Find Your Passion” nonsense. All Work Has Value The “Find Your Passion” programs usually promise that you can do whatever you want and make tons of money doing it. This can...

How to Develop Connection

Posted on May 31, 2020

in relationship

by Laura

0 Comments

When I was a dance teacher, I focused on teaching dance as a performance art. My students danced both as soloists and as an ensemble. One day while practicing a group number a student said, “I’ll just practice at home. I mean, it’s this same thing as dancing alone.” Whoa. I thought, “If that’s what she thinks, I have failed as a teacher.” Unfortunately, this type of thinking is common now. I am not sure why it’s happening – maybe it’s because of the perpetual face in the iPhone instead of actually interacting with other people. Whatever the reason, lots of people don’t feel connected and don’t know how to connect. They occupy the same space at the same time, and may even interact while doing it, but they aren’t connected....

Rearing Healthy Children

Posted on May 31, 2020

in coping, relationship

by Laura

0 Comments

It's more and more common for me to see adults whose often well meaning parents just killed their spirits. These little people don’t get to grow up to be healthy big people. If I had a dollar for every potential client who tells me a childhood story of how their child self was killed, I’d be a millionaire. We need to stop murdering our children. Carl Jung first popularized the idea of archetypes. Archetypes are these human energies that exist in all cultures throughout time. We all either experience them directly or indirectly. He said that we all start out life as the Child. This is the light hearted, creative, innocent side of us that needs to stay alive inside of us throughout life so that we maintain connection to our inner...